Los Angeles Lakers third-year forward Julius Randle did not shy away from calling out his teammates after a 134-95 shellacking at the hands of the Houston Rockets on Wednesday.

The team allowed 43 and 39-point quarters to the Rockets and never recovered from the incessant barrage of threes from sixth man Eric Gordon, who led all scorers with 26 points, doing most of his damage connecting on 8-of-12 shots from three-point range.

While the Lakers are lacking firepower with absences to their starting backcourt in D'Angelo Russell and Nick Young — Randle admits the reason of their recent four-game skid goes beyond the injuries.

“I think we’re using it as an excuse,” Randle told Mark Medina of the OC Register, after logging his seventh double-double of the season with 21 points and 10 rebounds. “I don’t know what we’re doing, but we’re not being ourselves, and we’re not playing the right way. We’re not playing with the energy and not trusting each other on the defensive end.”

Head coach Luke Walton doubled down on Randle's thought process, who has asserted himself as a leader of men in only his third year in the league.

“We can’t have that mindset. We don’t need help,” Walton said. “Obviously we’re missing key players, and you’re going to lose games. But if we’re sitting around as a team (thinking), ‘Hey let’s wait for Nick and D’Angelo and this guy and that guy to get back,’ what kind of mindset is that? You come out and you play hard. You at least do the little things.”

While Los Angeles is lacking some scoring punch, allowing 134 points is no laughing matter — and unless they buckle down on the defensive end and the effort starts to show, the Lakers won't be able to count their blessings in a ruthless Western Conference once their backcourt is restored to full health.